Security Cameras Suggested For Site Of Unsolved Simsbury Homicide

FBI investigators search Iron Horse Boulevard with rakes and metal detectors near the site of the fatal stabbing of Melissa Millana. (Lauren Schneiderman / Hartford Courant)

SIMSBURY — More than a year after the slaying of an insurance executive, and one month after federal investigators once again searched the area where she was killed, the board of selectmen heard a proposal Monday for safety upgrades along Iron Horse Boulevard.

Simsbury resident Don Massey is representing the effort.

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The board expressed general support for the preliminary plan, which Massey said is still evolving but is ultimately designed to improve safety in the area and discourage crime.

"If it is a deterrent, we have the capacity to make Iron Horse safe again," Massey said.

The effort comes after the slaying of 54-year-old Melissa Millan, who was fatally stabbed while out for a run on the popular Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. The senior vice president of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. was found stabbed in the chest on Nov. 20, 2014, police said.

Last month, during the week of the anniversary of Millan's death, FBI agents and Simsbury police probed a more than half-mile portion of Iron Horse Boulevard and Rotary Park, the area where Millan is believed to have been killed.

Police Chief Peter N. Ingvertsen said at the time that the police activity was "a part of the normal progression of the investigation" and that the investigation "led us back to where we started."

Roy said there are a "significant number" of streetlights along Iron Horse Boulevard, all currently owned by Eversource. He said they are decorative streetlights, designed to give the area a community feel, rather than the tall standard streetlights elsewhere in town.

He said new streetlight technology is more conducive to installing security cameras, but more questions need to be answered before a more concrete plan is created.

"If we're going to install cameras, we want to make sure we have the appropriate policies in place to have cameras in public areas to balance security with the respect of privacy," Roy said.

Massey stressed that the idea is to ensure that the town would not be responsible for the initial cost of the cameras, as well as ongoing maintenance. He said similar plans could be implemented elsewhere in town.

Editor's Note: Reed Hill Associates is a technical consultant on the plan. An earlier version of this story stated they were raising money for the plan.